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i
Factory for Innovative Policy Solutions
17 October 2019
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FIRST EDITION
www.innovativepolicysolutions.org
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The world of today is more interconnected and dynamic than ever before. Although this fact
has come with many benefits, it has also resulted in an ever-growing number of societal
challenges around the globe. The lack of existing solutions to these challenges calls for new
methods of developing innovative and practical ideas.
First principles thinking is a technique that guides you to systematically come up with new
solutions by way of reverse-engineering societal challenges. It encourages you to critically
question the assumptions of the challenge and break it down into basic components, after
which you ask more critical questions that will surely inspire new ideas in a way that
reassembles the components from the ground up. The methodology itself dates back to
classical antiquity, when it was first introduced by Aristotle and later applied by Euclid in his
geometrical proofs. It was then further developed during the Renaissance by Descartes’
foundationalism as well as in the age of Enlightenment through Kant’s writings on reason. At
the onset of modernity, Marx experimented with pairing first principles with ideology.
However, contemporary works on the method have not gone much further than simply listing
the action steps, which leaves much open to the intuition and interpretation of the applicant.
Some aspiring first principles thinkers appreciate this more than others. For those who would
like some more guidance, we have outlined additional procedures and insights. We
furthermore elaborate on two additional steps that we find are particularly relevant in the
context of societal problem-solving. In doing so, we also apply each step to the challenge of
ensuring sufficient access to fresh water for residents of Cape Town, after which we invite you
to do the same for your challenge.
Here you find each step explained in brief:
I. Identify your objective. Transform your societal challenge into an objective statement
that captures what needs to be improved, for whom and in which locality, possibly with
a deadline, without demarcating it further than this. The statement should indicate
whether you seek to tackle a challenge entirely or partially.
II. List your obstacles. Identify all obstacles in the way of your objective. Depending on
whether you seek to tackle a challenge entirely or partially, you can decide to embark
on either those obstacles that are individually necessary and jointly sufficient to achieve
your objective, or those that are (un)related to your background.
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III. Question your assumptions. Question the assumptions that underlie each obstacle
in a disciplined, rigorous and thoughtful manner, alone or with a partner, through
Socratic questioning. Look for evidence, consider alternative perspectives, decompose
the elements of assumptions and examine the implications.
IV. Uncover your first principles. Answer your Socratic questions to discover the
fundamental truths: your first principles. You can answer the questions intuitively
through an educated guess or with the aid of your search engine, as long as the
answers are founded in science and deduced as much as is reasonably possible.
V. Come up with new ideas. Pose ‘how can we …’ questions linking the first principles
to your obstacles with the goal to come up with new ideas, and ask follow-up questions
to make your ideas more actionable. Make sure that you write down all the ideas that
come to mind and try to merge them with different questions and ideas.
VI. Refine your ideas. Reduce your ideas to a manageable volume through a simple
pass/fail exercise, and settle on a number of evaluation criteria for your ideas. Assess
and refine the remaining ideas according to your criteria by way of Socratic questioning,
identifying first principles and asking ‘how can we …’ questions.
VII. Select your solutions. Select which ideas will be taken to the implementation table.
Depending on how you selected your obstacles in step II, your selection can take place
according to which ideas are individually necessary and/or jointly sufficient to overcome
your obstacles, or by way of an evaluation matrix.
Though this manual addresses the steps of first principles thinking in depth, we go on to
demonstrate how it compares to other societal problem-solving methods. In stark contrast to
first principles thinking, analogical thinking seeks to duplicate solutions that have worked in
similar contexts to a given challenge rather than develop unique and original ideas. More in
line with first principles thinking, however, analytical thinking focuses on the root causes of a
particular challenge to develop solutions for it. Design thinking is the most people-centred
approach, as it concentrates primarily on the stakeholders in any particular challenge, while
lateral thinking looks beyond the challenge in question to draw inspiration from other areas to
produce creative solutions. Finally, computational thinking aims to deconstruct challenges into
individual variables in order to create solutions based on the results of carefully formulated
algorithms. Finally, we look at the scientific method to demonstrate the role that first principles
play in hypothesis creation through the process of abductive, deductive and inductive
reasoning.
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FOREWORD
From its founding, the Factory for Innovative Policy Solutions (FIPS) has seen itself as an
international and inter-disciplinary working group, inclusive to all thinkers who are passionate
about confronting societal challenges, no matter their academic or professional backgrounds.
In fact, we believe that such a diversity in knowledge, skills and experience is necessary for
addressing the complex challenges of an increasingly globalised and rapidly changing world.
For innovative thinkers, no problem is off the agenda and no solution is off the table. Founded
on these beliefs, and realising that traditional problem-solving methods alone are not always
effective in confronting all of today’s societal challenges, FIPS first needed to be equipped with
a set of appropriately innovative problem-solving tools to produce the solutions we wish to
deliver to those in a position to implement them and bring about societal change. The tools
adopted for this task came in the form of first principles thinking, an approach to problem-
solving that, although rooted in centuries of philosophical thought, remains under-developed
and under-valued in the various fields that constitute contemporary public policy.
First principles thinking, unlike other problem-solving methods that emphasise thinking by
analogy or continuing the work of others, requires the problem-solver to question everything
he or she knows about the problem at hand and start searching for solutions from scratch—
from the very first principles. In order to apply first principles thinking to its own work with
societal challenges, FIPS drew inspiration from a wide range of other methodologies and
techniques to create a process for developing innovative solutions that was both practical and
systematic. What follows is an actionable, step-by-step manual accessible to anyone who is
passionate and serious about finding solutions to societal challenges, no matter how great or
intimidating they may appear initially. The steps outlined in this manual are intended to illustrate
an application of first principles thinking that has served us in our work, but they need not be
regarded as a “recipe” to be accepted by all problem-solvers equally or applied to every
societal challenge uniformly. As every person thinks and works differently, we encourage you
to experiment with various applications of the information found in this manual and use it to
find an approach to problem-solving that is most suitable for you.
That being said, neither creative genius nor prior experience with societal problem-solving are
required in order to benefit from the contents of this manual, and there is no set profile for the
successful first principles thinker. Indeed, first principles thinking can be mastered and applied
by anyone: students and professors, scientists and scholars, policymakers and philosophers
as well as entrepreneurs or professionals from all fields and walks of life. All that is necessary
is a passion for a problem to be tackled, an open and inquisitive mindset, and the dedication
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to commit until innovative solutions are produced. If you believe that these qualities describe
you, then we invite you to begin your journey to become a first principles thinker.
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CONTENTS
PART 1 - INTRODUCTION 1
1.1. The history and development of first principles thinking 1
1.2. What are societal challenges? 3
1.3. First principles thinking and societal challenges 4
PART 2 - FIRST PRINCIPLES THINKING IN STEPS 5
2.1. Step I: Identify your objective 5
2.1.1. Not-SMART objectives 6
2.1.2. Example 7
2.1.3. Your turn 7
2.2. Step II: List your obstacles 8
2.2.1. Reduction through conditioning 8
2.2.2. Reduction through expertise 9
2.2.3. Example 10
2.2.4. Your turn 11
2.3. Step III: Question your assumptions 12
2.3.1. Socratic questioning 13
2.3.2. Socratic questioning in groups 13
2.3.3. Example 14
2.3.4. Your turn 15
2.4. Step IV: Uncover your first principles 15
2.4.1. First principles 15
2.4.2. False principles 17
2.4.3. Example 17
2.4.4. Your turn 18
2.5. Step V: Come up with new ideas 19
2.5.1. “How-questions” 19
2.5.2. More questions 20
2.5.3. Example 21
2.5.4. Your turn 22
2.6. Step VI: Refine your ideas 23
2.6.1. Quick pass-fail evaluation 23
2.6.2. Set your evaluation criteria 24
2.6.3. Socratic questioning 24
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2.6.4. Example 29
2.6.5. Your turn 31
2.7. Step VII: Select your solutions 32
2.7.1. Selection through conditioning 32
2.7.2. Selection through expertise 32
2.7.3. Example 33
2.7.4. Your turn 34
PART 3 - FIRST PRINCIPLES THINKING IN COMPARISON TO OTHER METHODS 36
3.1. Analogical thinking 36
3.2. Analytical thinking 37
3.3. Design thinking 38
3.4. Lateral thinking 39
3.5. Computational thinking 40
3.6. First principles in abductive, deductive and inductive reasoning 41
PART 4 - FINAL REMARKS 44
4.1. Main lessons 44
4.2. Limitations (and how to deal with them) 44
4.3. Send us your feedback 47
KEY TERMS 48
REFERENCES 49
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PART 1 - INTRODUCTION
1.1. The history and development of first principles thinkingi
The first account of the methodical use of first principles as a problem-solving technique dates
back to ancient Greece, when it was proposed by Aristotle in his works ‘Metaphysics’ and
‘Physics’. In the former, Aristotle defines first principles as “the first basis from which a thing is
known,” while in the ‘Physics’ he explains that “in the science of nature as elsewhere, we
should try first to determine questions about the first principles” because the “proper direction
of our road is from things better known and clear to us, to things that are clearer and better
known by nature; for the things known to us are not the same as the things known
unconditionally”.1
In other words, by warning the problem-solver never to accept common knowledge
unquestioningly, Aristotle makes an early reference to epistemology, the branch of philosophy
concerned with understanding the nature of knowledge itself. How do we go about knowing
things? How do we know what is true and what is false? How can we determine what is a
practical solution and what is not? All these basic epistemological questions can only be
answered by deconstructing what we already know—or what we think we know—into first
principles.
While Aristotle’s work dealt largely with the theoretical notion of first principles, the method was
notably applied in practice by his contemporary Euclid, whose ground-breaking mathematical
treatise ‘Elements’ used an indispensable set of first principles to establish what today are
considered fundamental geometrical proofs. Book I of the ‘Elements’ begins by providing a
number of relevant definitions to conceptualise the terminology—point, line, circle, etc.—that
would be used to present five first principles, called postulates or axioms, which serve as the
basis for all of his later proofs: (1) a straight line segment may be drawn from any given point
to any other; (2) a straight line may be extended to any finite length; (3) a circle may be
described with any given point as its centre and any distance as its radius; (4) all right angles
are congruent; and (5) if a straight line falling on two straight lines makes the interior angles
on the same side less than two right angles, the two straight lines, if produced indefinitely,
meet on that side on which are the angles less than two right angles.2 Understanding that these
i An earlier version of this section first appeared as the article: Grass, K. (2019). “Who Uses First
Principles Thinking and Why You Should Become one of Them”. Factory for Innovative Policy
Solutions. Retrieved from https://www.innovativepolicysolutions.org/articles/who-uses-first-principles-
thinking-and-why-you-should-become-one-of-them
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five principles are unconditionally true—and apparently not bothered by the fact that the last
might be a bit difficult to read—Euclid was able to use them to prove hundreds of geometric
propositions, perhaps most famously the Pythagorean Theorem, which states that the square
of the hypotenuse of a right triangle is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides
(a2 + b2 = c2).
Though much of ancient philosophy was abandoned in the Medieval Ages, first principles
thinking experienced a revival during the Renaissance, when René Descartes began to
introduce foundationalism into the Western epistemological tradition. The foundationalism of
Descartes, itself largely based on Aristotelian thought and Socratic questioning, argued for the
justification of any commonly held beliefs with fundamental beliefs, or first principles. This
methodological approach, known as Cartesian doubt, had a profound impact on the
development of the modern scientific method, which stresses the use of empirical trials and
various forms of reasoning to either accept or reject hypotheses. Of these various forms of
reasoning, inductive and deductive reasoning in particular exemplify the application of first
principles thinking to reach conclusions. While the inductive approach relies on first principles
in the form of specific observations to build general theories, deductive reasoning utilises them
to create a top-down system of logic in which specific conclusions are drawn from basic
premises, as in the example: (1) All men are mortal; (2) Descartes is a man; therefore (3)
Descartes is mortal.
As the Renaissance gave way to the Enlightenment, new generations of philosophers
continued to explore the use of first principles. In his ‘Critique of Pure Reason’, Immanuel Kant
contributed to the epistemological debate by analysing the relationship between “a priori”
knowledge, which is derived from nature, and “a posteriori” knowledge, which is acquired
through experience.3 Kant’s work laid the groundwork for what would become the philosophical
school of idealism, or the belief that all human knowledge is subjective and mentally
constructed through experience. The idealist tradition was, in turn, inherited by the Romantic
thinker Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, whose philosophical approaches had a profound
impact on Karl Marx after the Industrial Revolution. Marx advocated the ideological
employment of first principles as a tool for making political criticism and promoting class
consciousness. In a letter to his colleague Arnold Ruge, titled ‘A Ruthless Criticism of
Everything Existing’, Marx argues that when making an effective political criticism, “we do not
confront the world in a doctrinaire way with a new principle: Here is the truth, kneel down before
it! We develop new principles for the world out of the world’s own principles. We do not say to
the world: Cease your struggles, they are foolish; we will give you the true slogan of struggle.
We merely show the world what it is really fighting for, and consciousness is something that it
has to acquire, even if it does not want to”.4
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Although their value to the historical development of philosophical theory may be clear, how
are first principles being used in practice in the 21st century? Today, first principles thinking is
experiencing a comeback in the business world, as it has already been endorsed by several
pioneering and successful entrepreneurs. Among the most notable proponents of first
principles thinking from the private sector is Elon Musk, founder and chief executive officer of
a number of highly innovative companies like Tesla and SpaceX. While Musk’s promotion of
first principles thinking serves to show the great versatility of the problem-solving method, our
focus hereafter will be to harness the power of first principles and apply them to the sphere of
public policy. Thus, keeping what we already know about first principles thinking in mind, let
us begin our search for innovative ideas for policy solutions to societal challenges.
1.2. What are societal challenges?
A societal challenge, broadly speaking, is any issue that affects the collective welfare of a
community. These issues can vary greatly in their scope and urgency, from improving general
public sanitation to distributing vaccines in the wake of an epidemic. Likewise, the communities
affected by these issues vary greatly too, as societal challenges can be identified in remote
villages, metropolitan cities, rural regions or industrialised countries. In other words, wherever
there are people, there are and always will be societal challenges. Moreover, as the societies
of our world become increasingly globalised and interconnected, so do the challenges that
they face. For this reason, both floods in Venice and droughts around the Dead Sea—two
challenges that, strictly speaking, are geographically limited and affect relatively small
communities of people—are, in fact, linked to the much broader and more serious challenges
of global warming and climate change. Similarly, while the European refugee crisis may be
considered a policy dilemma of the European Union and its Member States, the challenge is
directly linked to the prolonged conflicts in Syria and the greater Middle East.
Now, having identified what a societal challenge is, what remains to be answered is whose
responsibility it is to confront such challenges. Traditionally, it has been the responsibility of
governments, either local or national, to address the issues that affect their respective
communities. While governments still play the dominant role in resolving societal challenges
by means of management and public policy, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) like
volunteer or charity groups are playing an increasingly active role in aiding governments
whenever sufficient time, resources or human capital might not be readily available. Finally,
with the spread of neoliberalism and the free market, it is becoming more and more common
for governments to outsource responsibility for confronting certain societal challenges to
private sector companies, effectively placing such issues in the hands of the community and
merging them into the local economy. Societal challenges can be handled by any of these
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three actors separately or by all three of them together. One example of the division of a single
societal challenge among these three actors is that of providing healthcare, as most countries
offer their citizens the options of either public or private sector services. Additionally, and
particularly in times of crisis or humanitarian disaster, when the established systems of
healthcare might be unable to cope with the gravity of the problems, politically unaffiliated non-
profits like Doctors Without Borders contribute their services to help overcome these societal
challenges.
1.3. First principles thinking and societal challenges
While it may be the role of the government, a corporation or a volunteer group to confront a
given societal challenge by implementing solutions, one does not have to be a politician, a
businessperson or a member of any organisation in order to produce innovative solutions. In
fact, there is no predetermined profile for an effective first principles thinker. Many people
already practise first principles thinking in their daily lives, often times subconsciously applying
certain elements of the methodology to overcome personal or professional problems.
Moreover, many existing solutions to current challenges—like the innovation of cultured meat
in response to increases in global consumption levels5 or that of drip irrigation in areas
struggling with water scarcity6—are traceable to first principles thinking. Thus, to become such
a problem-solver yourself, all you need is a dedicated commitment to a challenge you feel
passionate about and a willingness to approach it in ways that might not reflect any of your
previously held beliefs or assumptions. As you work through the steps of first principles
thinking, you might even discover that your new approaches begin to take a direction that
contradicts or undermines your previous views. Though this may at first seem alarming or even
discouraging, it is actually a sign of the effective use of first principles, as the effective first
principles thinker values pragmatism and originality over ideology and conformity.
At this point, it is time for you to think of a societal challenge you feel particularly passionate
about, as it will be the subject of your exercises with first principles thinking throughout this
manual. As stated above, this challenge has almost no limiting criteria: it can be local or
international, economic or environmental, to be resolved by the public or private sector. What
is most important is that you are committed to its resolution and unafraid to question your
existing beliefs about it. For demonstrative purposes, this manual will use the challenge of
ending freshwater shortage in Cape Town, South Africa in order to illustrate each of the seven
steps of the first principles thinking method. After completing this exercise, we will go on to
discuss how this method compares to and differs from other problem-solving techniques.
Finally, we will conclude with a review of what we have learned as well as a few remarks about
the limitations and implementation of first principles thinking.
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PART 2 - FIRST PRINCIPLES THINKING IN
STEPS
While societal problem-solving is often seen as a creative process that should not be overly
confined by rules and procedures, first principles thinking is praised exactly for the fact that it
embraces certain steps that direct your creative thinking. It is a systematic approach to
generating ideas after all. The first principles thinking method, as we knew it before the
introduction of this manual, typically dictates you to identify your assumptions, break down
your challenge into its fundamental principles and create new solutions from scratch. Previous
articles on the method have not gone much further than simply listing these action steps, which
leaves much open to the intuition and interpretation of the applicant. Some aspiring first
principles thinkers appreciate this more than others.
For those who would like some more guidance, we have sought to provide additional
procedures and insights to consider when following these steps. Not only have we expanded
each existing step, we have also added two additional steps that we feel are essential in the
context of tackling a challenge that is societal in nature, such as bolstering the political
attractiveness of a solution. This increases the chance for your ideas to be considered and
implemented, which is probably the ultimate goal of this exercise.
As with any guidance, you are free to follow along to the extent that works best for you:
meticulously or haphazardly. What we do recommend, however, is to read through the step
before applying it yourself, as some insights are shared in the example challenge of water
scarcity in Cape Town. Whenever you find yourself spending too much time or energy on a
certain step, simply try to move on with what you have so that you can enjoy the benefits of
the flow. This is not to say that you should not take breaks, as pauses can actually stimulate
your creative thinking that takes place subconsciously.
2.1. Step I: Identify your objective
Whether you are consulting this manual with a specific societal challenge in mind or simply
curious about the workings of first principles thinking, you should know for what challenges the
method is most appropriate. As was alluded to in the introduction, it is suitable for a wide range
of societal challenges, with different scopes and localities. However, we found that first
principles thinking leads to more targeted and actionable solutions when applied to challenges
that are concrete and demarcated to a specific territory. The more complex and multifaceted
the challenge, the more likely you are to get lost in the process to follow, as wicked problems
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often require multiple solutions and therefore many avenues for you to embark on. In other
words, we advise you to embark on sub-challenges such as reducing air pollution in a particular
city as opposed to reducing global climate change altogether. Indeed, the former challenge is
still intimidating but already much more manageable than the latter.
What challenge you pick, however, is entirely up to you. What is a challenge for one is a
blessing to the other. The legalisation of abortion in Nicaragua might, for example, be a
problem for religious practitioners and a blessing for women experiencing economic hardship.
You furthermore do not need extensive knowledge about a challenge to make a meaningful
contribution since your knowledge and background can assist you in generating ideas that are
either very much in line with the situation or completely new. In other words, select a challenge
that you care about.
2.1.1. Not-SMART objectives
Once you have identified a societal challenge that is concrete and specific to a certain territory,
you need to transform it into a concrete objective. As American inventor Charles Kettering
accurately said, “a problem/objective well-stated is a problem half-solved”.7 To do so we invite
you to literally visualise and describe a situation in which the problem does not exist or is
effectively dealt with. Visualisation will not only naturally guide the next steps, but also ignite
your creative engine in a way that is practical and result-oriented.
Your intuition might tell you that your objective needs to be SMART (specific, measurable,
attainable, realistic, timely). Instead, we ask you to only make it specific. This means that the
objective needs to spell out exactly what needs to be improved, for whom and in what
geographic location; but not more than this as overspecification could direct you into a
traditional thinking pattern and limit the scope of possible solutions.
While measurability is important, it does not need to be addressed here because this will be
done in a later stage. Furthermore, the objective does by no means need to be attainable or
realistic because that would by definition undermine progress and innovation. Imagine if
Edison and Swan, or anyone, had found it unattainable to harness electricity for longer periods
of time, would light bulbs have ever been invented and changed the way we live? Instead, we
actually encourage you to be “unrealistically” ambitious as long as your challenge remains
specific to a locality. In an optimal exercise of first principles thinking there would be no time
constraints in order to allow you to maximise the scope of solutions. However, in most real-life
applications you will find that time constraints need to be taken into account and may actually
stimulate creativity out of necessity. In other words, feel free to attach a deadline to your
objective.
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Lastly, when formulating your objective, make sure that you start with a verb such as increase,
reduce, ensure, maintain, realise, etc. This does not only specify the necessity for action to
change (or not change) the status quo, but also its direction, scope and ambition. This will help
you make choices in the steps to follow.
2.1.2. Example
If we were to transform our challenge of freshwater shortage in Cape Town, it would be
something along the lines of:
● Ensure sufficient access to fresh water for residents of Cape Town (by this date).
Can you visualise residents in Cape Town having enough running water in their taps and
showers? It is specific because it outlines the need for action and its direction (ensure),
because it specifies what needs to be improved (access to fresh water), and because it
contains a concrete target group (residents of Cape Town). Indeed, measurability is lacking
because ‘sufficient’ is not specified in units, such as litres of water per resident. This is
intentional because accepting the assumption that a person needs, for example, 100 litres of
water per day constrains your thinking and innovative capacity. Instead, such assumptions will
be questioned later on. Is it attainable and realistic? Who knows at this stage? This highly
depends on the solutions that we generate. In this case it might be natural to attach a deadline
to the objective, for example ‘Day Zero’, which would be the date that municipal water supplies
have to be switched off and residents have to queue for their daily ration of water based on
projections of current water demand, reserves and incoming rain. In 2018, this was projected
to be April 12.8
2.1.3. Your turn
Now it is your turn to select a challenge you care about and transform it into an objective.
Remember that it needs to start with a verb and capture what needs to be improved, for whom
and in which locality, possibly with a deadline, without demarcating it further than this. Feel
free to use the box below to state your objective:
This document is for promotional purposes. To access the complete manual, visit
www.innovativepolicysolutions.org
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REFERENCES
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